A wide variety of fluoride compounds have been suggested in oral compositions for use in the oral cavity, such as for use in toothpaste, mouthwash or solutions for professional applications, to inhibit dental caries (see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,029,191 and 4,078,053). Surfactants have been employed in connection with such oral compositions. In particular, a dental caries inhibiting oral composition has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,892, issued Oct. 12, 1982. The oral composition comprises a caries-inhibiting amount of a water soluble fluoride, such as for example having from 50 to 3000 ppm of the soluble fluoride in combination with a perfluoroalkyl surfactant having a perfluoroalkyl group, a linking group and a hydrophilic group. The combination of the soluble fluoride and the perfluoroalkyl surfactant is used in the oral composition in an amount sufficient to increase the formation of fluoroapatite from enamel-fluoride interactions.
A specific anionic perfluoroalkyl surfactant, Zonyl.RTM. FSA, (Zonyl.RTM. is a registered trademark of E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co.) has been found to be an effective antiplaque additive when employed in oral compositions, either alone or in combination with water soluble fluorides (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,925, issued Jul. 26, 1988). As described in the patent, Zonyl.RTM. FSA comprises a perfluoroalkyl group and an anionic carboxylic acid salt hydrophilic end group. Zonyl.RTM. FSA has been described as being an effective antiplaque employed in oral compositions, such as in toothpaste.
It is desirable to provide for oral compositions which have a combination of both antiplaque and anticaries activity which may be effectively employed alone without the presence of fluorides for effective, therapeutic treatment to reduce plaque and dental caries in patients and which are more antiplaque effective than anionic fluoroalkyl surfactants.